Glebe 0-0 Beckenham Town - We played our get out of jail cards. Beckenham deserved to go through and were the better side on the day, admits Glebe manager Harry Hudson

Glebe 0 – 0 Beckenham Town
Location	Foxbury Avenue, off Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6SD
Kickoff	11/12/2021 15:00

GLEBE  0-0  BECKENHAM TOWN
(Glebe won 4-3 on penalties)
The Buildbase FA Vase Third Round
Saturday 11 December 2021
Stephen McCartney reports from Foxbury Avenue

GLEBE manager Harry Hudson admits his side played their get out of jail card after grabbing their place in the last 32 of The FA Vase by holding their nerve from the penalty spot.

 

Beckenham Town were the better side during a disappointing hard-fought 90 minute stalemate on a wet day in Chislehurst and Beckenham striker Tunde Aderonmu and substitute Freddie Nyhus both squandered chances to seal the deal but blazed their penalties over.

Six of the 15 penalties were missed as Glebe reached the Fourth Round for only their second time in their history, having lost 3-0 at Stowmarket Town under Gary Alexander’s management in 2020.

Both sides went into this tie sitting in third-place in their respective divisions with Glebe collecting 42 points from their 18 games in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, while Beckenham Town have banked 35 points from 14 games in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South.

Hudson’s men have beaten Coggeshall United (3-1), May & Baker (5-0), Holmer Green (3-1) all away from home before beating Hanworth Villa 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at home in the last round.

Jason Huntley’s men have beaten K Sports (5-0), Hassocks (2-1), Clapton (2-0) and Milton United (3-2) – all away from home and made the 14-mile round trip to Chislehurst and were the better side during a game of little goalscoring chances.

“We were second best for the majority of the game. We weren’t very good today but credit to Beckenham, they stopped us playing the football we wanted to play and they made it about more of a battle and they were better at it than us,” admitted Hudson.

“First half we didn’t have anything in the game but we dug in second half and changed a few things. We looked a little bit more solid and the game was a bit more even in the second half but if you’re being honest, we weren’t the better side today.”

When asked what was missing from his side, the Glebe manager replied: “I felt that was missing was we couldn’t find our stride, to be able to control them when we had the ball. They were in control of us and we tried.  We went higher a little bit and we’re going to hide when we played out from the back and we’re not going to be successful so credit to Beckenham for that.

“There were probably quite a few things missing, we were playing behind their required levels so we need to analyse and watch it back to give you an answer, that’s what immediately comes to mind.”

Beckenham Town assistant manager Billy Walton added: “I just feel really sorry for all the lads who put in a great performance for us today.  I’m just really disappointed for them really and Jason (Huntley) and that.

“To go out on penalties, it’s the wrong way to do it. The FA should really look into this. I mean we’ve come away from home, we’ve played every round away, why you can’t plan an extra 30 minutes is beyond me.  I just don’t understand it and when you go to penalties, it’s an individual sport, it’s down to one person and the penalties is a farce.

“I mean, have you ever seen in your life playing football, Nick Blue makes a great save from the first penalty and they make him retake it so no one else moved off that line. It’s a farce, it’s a farce!

“We come here today, everyone most probably thought we’d get beat by a much better side today. We proved how good Beckenham Town are. We’ve come here and basically we’ve dominated 99.9% of the game. I think they had one shot.”

Beckenham Town pressed their hosts in the final third to stop Glebe playing out from the back and centre-half Mudiagho Wanogho put in an immense performance at the heart of defence to keep Glebe’s 33-goal striker Jamie Philpot in his pocket throughout.

Beckenham Town should have taken the lead with their first opening after only 186 seconds.

Danny Waldren played the ball out to winger Steven Townsend, who played in a low cross from the right towards Aderonmu, who turned Glebe’s centre-half Antone Douglas inside the box and his right-footed shot on the turn from 15-yards screamed over the crossbar.

“Tunde has done all the hard work, nice move, great turn, just a foot lower and it’s in but it’s a shame he didn’t hit the target,” added Walton.

Out-of-sorts Glebe created only one opening in the first-half and that came in the 12^th minute.

Philpot played the ball out to right-back Dami Olorunnisomo, who whipped in a low cross into the Beckenham box and the ball was cleared out to left-winger Aaron Watson, who swept his first-time right-footed shot straight at visiting goalkeeper Nick Blue from 18-yards for a comfortable collection.

Hudson said: “Best chance of the game.  I think it was a tame effort from Aaron, even if he doesn’t shoot first-time, he’s one-v-one against the full-back inside the box. He’s got a shot on target but it’s a tame effort.  I think when we had the opportunities, we had certainly in the first-half we didn’t capitalise on it that’s for sure.”

Walton added: “I must’ve been nodding off then! I didn’t see them have a shot.”

Central midfielder Joe Healy floated in a couple of free-kicks into the Glebe penalty area where holding midfielder Danny Waldren twice steered his headers past the near post from tight angles.

Healy tried his luck with a left-footed half-volley from 35-yards which he sliced harmlessly wide of the Glebe goal in the 36^th minute.

Glebe goalkeeper George Kamurasi hooked a big clearance straight down the middle of the pitch, which bounced a couple of times before being plucked out of the air by Blue as a disappointing first-half came to an end.

Hudson said: “I was not happy! We were second best. We didn’t win enough first balls, we didn’t win our battles. We didn’t win the second ball very well. We allowed them to have the ball in areas that they wanted the ball to be in and we didn’t want it to be in, so they put us under pressure.

“We didn’t win any of our individual battles in the first-half and that makes what we work on tactically absolutely pointless so that’s the first thing to try to get that right.

“We spoke about our structure, to get a bit more control in the first and second phase and basically I said to them the biggest positive from the first-half is that we’re not losing the game. On pressure and territory, we should have been!”

Walton added: “It’s a massive slope here and we decided to defend the slope in the first half and they didn’t cause us any problems and I think we were camped in their half second half going down the slope.

“I said to them at half-time ‘just keep playing the way you’re playing.’  The tactics we set up for them to do on Thursday night, they done it to the book and it worked really well.  We just said we’ll get more chances going down the slope than what we did in the first half. That was the case. We dominated all the second half. I thought we dominated the whole game to be honest with you.”

Beckenham Town went close to smashing the deadlock inside the opening three minutes of the second half when Waldren fed Humphris down the right and he flashed a low cross across the face of goal, which cut out the keeper but Townsend ghosted in and blasted his shot into the side netting from a tight angle.

“Another one, make the goalkeeper make a save and it might ricochet out and you get a tap in. he just pulled it into the side-netting,” added Walton.

Beckenham Town won the corner-count by 8-5 and from their fourth one, Healy’s left-wing delivery was cleared out to Waldren, who clipped the ball back into the Glebe box but 13-goal striker Aderonmu flicked his header across the keeper and past the far post from within a crowd of players just before the hour.

Humphris released Adenoma down the right channel and he had space to put the ball into the Glebe box and the ball was cleared out to Healy who played a 20-yard pass along the deck to Townsend, who lacked composure just inside the penalty area and his weak shot was controlled by Kamurasi’s feet before picking the ball up.

Glebe called Blue into making a comfortable save in the final 20 minutes, following their fourth corner of the game.

Substitute midfielder Ainsley Everitt’s corner from the left was cleared away to right-winger Charlie Penny, who had time and space to float the ball back into the box from the right and Everitt took a touch and cut the ball onto his right-foot and his rasping drive from 15-yards was comfortably plucked out of the air by Blue above his head.

“When it left Ainsley’s foot, he caught it well but it was straight at Bluey. It’s not going to be a problem for him. It was straight at him and comfortable hands from Bluey,” added Hudson.

Walton added: “That’s just a straight-forward catch for someone like Nicky Blue. He just plucked it out of the air like he was just swotting flies and normal run of the mill stop from Bluey.”

The best chance of the entire game fell to Beckenham Town inside the final 15 minutes.

Hudson was forced into rejigging his back-four after Kalvin Morath-Gibbs (quad) was substituted and Hudson told left-back Nico Lawrence to slot in beside Douglas at the heart of their defence.

Townsend split open Glebe’s two centre-halves to put Adernomu through on goal and he placed his right-footed shot towards the bottom near corner, which forced Kamurasi to get his huge frame low down to his right and use a strong right-hand to push the ball towards safety.

Walton said:” I mean, I’ve played up front myself for a time and I always like to take it around the keeper and I just think when you turn, then push it past them, you’ve got the momentum to turn them and they can’t move. They’ll either bring you down or you pass and you slot it home. Give him (Kamurasi) credit, he made himself big and made a good save.  We just lacked in the final third.  We just didn’t take that one that Tunde had clean through. You’ve got to put that one away!”

Hudson said: “It’s an awesome save. Kalvin was struggling with a quad and we were trying to put the ball out of play because Kalvin was injured.  We were trying to defend without a centre-half. 

“That’s why you have Kamurasi in goal because that was a phenomenal stop. The biggest chance of the game at a time in the game when it’s really, really difficult to come back from if that goes in.  It’s a huge credit to Kamurasi, he’s not fully fit himself.”

Beckenham Town kept plugging away in search of the winning goal that their dominance warranted.

Waldren was given acres of space to hit a right-footed drive just past the left-hand post from 30-yards, the keeper diving to his right.

Philpot escaped from Wanogho’s pocket inside the final four minutes but hit an overhead kick harmlessly wide of the goal from 18-yards, with the Beckenham centre-half in close proximity.

Walton said: “That’s what he (Philpot) does against us. I’ve never seen that lad play well against Beckenham, ever, full stop.  Our defence have got the best defensive record in the country, or joint-best defensive record in the country for a reason and that’s’ the reason way. Glebe are scoring goals for fun and they had one shot.  We haven’t conceded eight league goals in a season for no reason.”

Hudson said: “They had a good battle.  Jamie’s shirt was basically off his back and it was crazy! The man-handling that was going on, on a slippery pitch allowed them to be very, very physical than us. That’s probably all I’ll say on the matter with that one. Fair play to their centre-half, he did keep Jamie quiet at times.”

The game was settled by a penalty shoot-out.

Glebe went first and Blue smothered Penny’s right-footed free-kick just to his right but the officials ordered a re-take and Penny’s second attempt nestled into the bottom left-hand corner.

Healy spooned his left-footed penalty over the Glebe crossbar.

Glebe raced into a 2-0 lead when Everitt sent Blue the wrong way with his right-footed penalty, which found the bottom left-hand corner.

Beckenham’s right-back Rob Carter held his nerve by placing his right-footed penalty just right of centre, sending Kamurasi the wrong way.

Both sides then missed their next penalties.

Glebe sub midfielder Bentley Graham sliced his right-footed penalty past the right-hand post, aiming for the top right-hand corner.

Beckenham’s left-back Archie Johnson saw his left-footed penalty saved by Kamurasi, to his left.

Glebe were now 3-1 up when Lawrence’s right-footed penalty was placed past a well-beaten Blue.

Beckenham notched their second spot-kick when Townsend drilled his right-footed penalty into the roof of the net, giving Kamurasi no chance.

Philpot, who endured a quiet game, missed the chance to send Glebe through when he rifled his right-footed spot-kick over the bar.

Beckenham Town accepted the lifeline and made it 3-3 when Waldren held his nerve by sending the keeper the wrong way, the ball nestling inside the bottom left-hand corner.

Both sides the missed their next penalties as the pressure mounted.

Ryan King-Elliott’s right-footed penalty was saved by Blue, smothering the ball to his right.

Adenoma squandered a glorious chance to send Beckenham through but he blazed his right-footed penalty over the crossbar.

Glebe right-back Olorunnisomo held his neve by rolling his right-footed spot-kick past Blue to put his side on the brink of a smash-and-grab.

Nyhus rifled his left-footed penalty over the bar to send Glebe through to the Fourth Round on Saturday 15 January 2022.

Hudson said: “If I’m honest, I didn’t see where we were going to get a goal from open play today.  We fancied ourselves on penalties.  We did in the last round.

“We had at one point their fourth penalty taker was about to take one and had to score for them to stay in and then we had the fifth penalty for Philpot to win it, so at that point we were in total control of the penalty shoot-out.

“I think there were some really poor penalties from both sides to be honest.  I’m pretty sure three or four missed the target, which from 12-yards is pretty disappointing and then the penalty shoot-out swung in their favour with Tunde missing and they had a chance to win it themselves and they missed that and we scored our seventh one and that’s what’s won the shoot-out.

“We always fancy ourselves at penalties. Kamurasi is a very, very imposing goalie.  It’s a great achievement (to reach the Fourth Round for only the second time).  It’s something that I do have mixed feeling because I don’t think we were anywhere near our levels, If I’m honest. 

“Beckenham deserved to go through, they were the better side on the day but if you’re going to go through in cups you need the rub of the green and we haven’t had much this year and thankfully we did today, so we have to analyse what went wrong and then go again with next week.

“I’d like to think I’m honest with assessments of games. We weren’t the better side today but in a cup you always have a blip.  Maybe we’ve had a run of the green, get out of jail cards, whatever you want to call it.”

Sheppey United were knocked out of The FA Vase by losing 1-0 at Littlehampton Town, while Tunbridge Wells are through after beating lower league side Wallingford Town 4-2 at Culverden Stadium and Stansfeld look to join them against higher-division side Frimley Green here on Sunday.

Chatham Town, meanwhile, are top of the table after beating Welling Town 4-0 at Maidstone Road and have collected 45 points from 17 games.

Sheppey United are second (44 points from 16 games), while Adam Woodward’s Erith Town are now in third-place with 43 points from 20 games, while Glebe slip down to fourth-place.

Hudson has promised changes for Tuesday night’s trip to Chessington & Hook United in the Challenge Cup Second Round.  The Surrey side are bottom of the First Division table with 11 points from 19 games and came away from Croydon with a point in a 1-1 draw today.

“They’ll definitely be rotation in the squad and we’ll go into two more league games (against K Sports and Holmesdale) before the end of this calendar year which has to be six points for us, so that will be the priority for us on Saturday,” said Hudson.

“If we can achieve maximum points by the turn of the calendar year we will be right in and around it. There’s so much for us to play for. Us, Chatham, Sheppey, Erith Town, they’re on a good run. Erith & Belvedere are picking up points so there’s going to be a lot of teams still vying.

“The biggest thing for us is consistency and we spoke about that on Tuesday.  Against Sheppey we were very good for 45 minutes (going 3-0 up before drawing 3-3). If we can find the consistency, we’ve got a very good chance of having a very good season.”

Walton said: “The frightening thing is when you’ve dominated the game, as much as we dominated it, you know nine times out of 10 the team that has been absolutely battered go and win the penalty shoot-out and that’s the case.

“We practiced them on Thursday. It’s a different scenario in a match game and all the pressure and that but fair play to the lads. I didn’t want to say too much to them but what I like to see is smash it, put your foot through it, hit the target. If he saves it, he saves it.

“It’s criminal when you’re just kicking it over the bar. We kicked three penalties over the bar.”

Beckenham Town have games in hand on all of the three sides above them in the table.

Walton & Hersham are top of the pile with 40 points from 17 games, while Jersey Bulls have climbed up to second-place with 36 points from 15 games, while Badshot Lea are third with 36 points from 17 games.

Badshot Lea visit Eden Park Avenue next Saturday.

“We’ve got another big game next week.  When you play for Beckenham, every week’s a big game and next week we’ve got Badshot Lea and our main objective is to win the league,” added Walton, who has just served a six-match touchline ban.

“It ain’t a problem picking the boys up.  It’s a great thing that we’ve come up against a so-called big side and football wise over 90 minutes if the referee would have been in charge in a boxing game we would’ve had a unanimous decision but we got knocked out on penalties.

“We just said to the lads have that fire in your belly now to go and win the league for yourselves and I think they will.

“Badshot Lea drew three-all against Walton & Hersham today so it will be another tough game for us. It’s at our ground so if we conduct ourselves like we did today, the effort and determination was really good today, so if we show that next week and put the ball in the net, we’re a hard side to beat.

“Just that little bit of finishing power (was missing today), little fine margins in big games. When you look back on chances and if we had taken a couple of those chances that we created, I think we would’ve won the game quite comfortably.”

Glebe: George Kamurasi, Dami Olorunnisomo, Nico Lawrence, Darryl Coleman, Kalvin Morath-Gibbs (Sam Johnson 77), Antone Douglas, Aaron Watson (Ainsley Everitt 46), Bradley Wilson (Bentley Graham 58), Jamie Philpot, Ryan King-Elliott, Charlie Penny.
Subs: Solomon Baugh, Reginald Rose, Lauris Chin, Wazir Azeez

Booked: Harry Hudson 72 (manager), Bentley Graham 80

Beckenham Town: Nick Blue, Rob Carter, Archie Johnson, Nick Curran (Freddie Nyhus 69), Mudiagho Wanogho, Jamie Humhris (Harvey Hanifan 90), Danny Waldren, Tunde Aderonmu, Joe Healy, Steven Townsend.
Subs: Dami Bada, Pinto De Niro, Alfie Bloomfield, Phil Wilson

Booked: Joe Healy 55, Archie Johnson 85

Attendance: 175
Referee: Mr Josh Osofa
Assistants: Mr Tom Lathey & Mr Ali Matour